In a world with AI, why should anyone keep writing?

Why should you labor to write a story when an AI can create one in seconds?

ChatGPT. OpenAI. StableDiffusion.

If you haven’t heard these words, you will soon. All of the above are AI-generation tools. You give them a prompt of a few words and they spit out software programs, college essays, complex works of art, and more. Most recently, the science fiction magazine Clarkesworld was inundated with AI-generated submissions after an “influencer” suggested people could make a quick buck selling to the market (hint: they were wrong.)

Two weeks ago I turned in a 136,000 word novel to my agent. It took me about two years to write. Now, with a tool like ChatGPT, with a small prompt it can spit out a novel in seconds. AI-generated novels are, at least so far, not any good, But there’s no reason to think that someday soon someone won’t build an AI that can spit out a work that’s publishable. If you doubt me, just have a look at some of the art the StableDiffusion folks are generating. You don’t have to go to art school or put in 10,000 hours of learning anymore to create a novel or an impressive painting. Now you can just type in a few words and voila.

So, why struggle to make art when an AI can do it in seconds?

So, why struggle to make art when an AI can do it in seconds?

Well, there are lots of reasons to keep making art. I’ll list a few here:

For the sheer joy of it

Remember when you were a kid and all you needed was a pencil and a piece of paper and you could entertain yourself for hours by drawing dragons and castles and spaceships and aliens? Remember how fun that was? Sure, art can be difficult to make sometimes, but it can also be the most rewarding thing a person ever does. There’s a deep and abiding satisfaction that comes with making something yourself that can’t be attained by having someone else do it. Making art is fun.

Do it for yourself

For me, the act of creation is one of the most satisfying things. Recently I’ve been away from writing for a few weeks because of work, and I feel a difference in my mood. I’m grumpy (or more grumpy, as my wife might say). I felt off. But after a day of working on a story or a novel, I always feel lighter, less burdened. Eventually, I want folks to read my fiction, but when I’m immersed in the work, miles deep in some fictional world, I have a sense of flow and happiness that I get in few other places.

Do it for others

At some point, artists usually want someone else to read or see their work. It’s much more satisfying to have others appreciate something you labored over than something that was created for you with minimal effort. They are admiring work you created. Not the work someone else did. You’re creating something that others might appreciate, and in so doing you’re sharing a part of yourself with them.

I still remember the feeling of selling my first story and realizing others would read and (hopefully) enjoy the story I created. There’s nothing like it, that sense of sharing. Other than telepathy and certain forms of love, few things can transmit feelings as powerfully as art. Would you rather communicate someone else’s message, or your own? How much of yourself do you want to give?

Art is sharing. Art is giving.

Do it for empathy building

Computers don’t feel (not yet, at least). They’re not independent agents moving through the world, accumulating experiences. But you are. There’s something deeply unique about being human. No one has had your experiences exactly as you have. No one has felt your feelings like you. And no one can convey those feelings and experiences like you either. Art has the power of being able to convey thought and emotion like nothing else. Studies have shown that reading fiction builds empathy because it puts readers in the mind of another, often a person far different from themselves. In an increasingly polarized world, doesn’t it make sense to try and build bridges of understanding to increase empathy? An AI isn’t going to convey the subjective experience of being you, living your life, experiencing your feelings. And though you may not be writing about yourself explicitly, a piece of ourselves always ends up in our work whether we realize it or not.

Nowadays there’s too much focus on STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Seldom do we hear mention of the Arts. This is a tragedy of galactic proportions. The acronym should be STEAM, to include the Arts (& Humanities), because even though we have fabulous tech to play with, it means nothing unless we learn use it in a way that benefits humanity as a whole. Arts & Humanities teach us what it means to be human, what it is to be someone else, what it is to live in this painful world. Art teaches people what it means to feel and understand suffering. Without it, we’re just creatures moving through space.

We need Art like we need air.

Do it for the challenge

Why learn to play the guitar if you’ll never be as good as Jimi Hendrix? Why write songs if you can just go on YouTube and listen to the greatest songs ever written? You do it for the challenge of it. You do it for the satisfaction of learning a new skill. You do it because it’s fun. And because you have no idea what you might create. You might actually become a great guitarist. You might actually write songs for the ages. The same is true with any art. You never know how history is going to remember your work, and for all you know you might create something timeless. And even if you don’t, even if you never write a hit song or a best-selling novel, there’s a joy and satisfaction in knowing that you challenged yourself, worked hard, and created something, no matter how small.

All art is worth something.

Do it because language is a skill

When you use a tool like ChatGPT to write a term paper or a story, you’re not learning the intricacies of language. You’re not learning how to communicate with words. But when you labor over every word, sentence, paragraph, chapter, and overarching plot, you begin to see how language can be used as a tool. You learn effective communication techniques. And you learn how to read. This isn’t just a benefit to you, but to those around you. And a world where people don’t communicate effectively or clearly is a poor world, a world with misunderstandings, conflict, and even war. The more effectively you communicate, the better your overall experience will be. And you’ll never learn those skills if an AI writes stuff for you.

Creativity is our human birthright

Yes, humans aren’t the only animals that make and use tools. But we’re the only species that makes art. From cave paintings to the Taj Mahal, humans have been making art for tens of thousands of years. Give a kid a crayon and what does she do? She draws. We make sandcastles and cities. Drum circles and symphony orchestras. The force that compels a kid to scrawl graffiti in an alleyway is the same force that compelled our hominid ancestors to scrawl pictures of the day’s hunt on cave walls. We need to express what’s internal to us. We need to share our powerful and sometimes overwhelming feelings. We feel compelled to leave our mark on the world, and art is often how we do it.

AI is using other people’s work to generate something “new.” But there’s no individual agency there, no single, unitary entity that said, This is what I want to bring into the world and then made it happen. Creativity is who we are. Humanity as a species wouldn’t exist without art. And so by abdicating your creative power to a machine, you’re giving up a part of what makes you uniquely human.

We make art because art is us. We make art because we must.